Family Federation spiritual leader jailed for 2 years in South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea — Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, the 83-year-old spiritual leader of the global Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, was sentenced to two years in prison Monday after being found guilty this year of embezzlement and bribery of a former first lady and a former lawmaker.

The religious leader, who is suffering from deteriorating health and has been hospitalized, appeared at her sentencing in a wheelchair, wearing a mask and hospital pajamas.

She has long denied the charges, but the Seoul Central District Court in its ruling said Dr. Han’s Family Federation, founded as the Unification Church, had seen “an opportunity for organizational expansion” and sought “state support for church policies.”

The crackdown on Dr. Han and other conservative religious figures under left-leaning South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has been criticized by religious freedom advocates worldwide as a pretext for the persecution of his administration’s perceived political opponents.

In her trial, the octogenarian — the widow of Unification Church founder Rev. Sun Myung Moon — blamed the bribery and embezzlement accusations at the heart of the case on a rogue former executive of the Family Federation who had acted on his own initiative.

An appeal of the sentence looks likely.

Prosecutors, arguing that Dr. Han had breached barriers between church and state, sought a 13-year term. Other individuals connected to the case have already been jailed, with Dr. Han’s prison sentence being roughly in line with theirs.

She has been detained for 11 months.

Mr. Lee took power via an electoral landslide in June 2025 after the downfall of conservative former President Yoon Suk Yeol. Mr. Yoon — a hardliner on China and staunchly anti-communist — was impeached and is now serving a life sentence after an unsuccessful attempt in December 2024 to declare martial law. His wife was one of the people bribed in Dr. Han’s case.

Monday’s sentencing was the second recent hammer blow to the Family Federation, which has long campaigned against communism while advocating for traditional family values.

The organization lost its religious status and saw all of its assets seized in Japan in June after courts there sided with families of members who had accused the church of predatory fundraising.

The jailing of ‘Mother Moon’

The bribery charges against Dr. Han involved the gift of luxury items, including Chanel handbags and a diamond necklace, to Mr. Yoon’s wife.

The charges also relate to a donation of $73,000 to Kweon Seong-dong, a lawmaker from Mr. Yoon’s conservative People Power Party.

Dr. Han’s defense team consistently stated that she did not order either action. They say a rogue church executive, Yun Young-ho, was responsible and acted without her orders.

Prior to Dr. Han’s Monday sentencing, related individuals had been jailed, including Mr. Yun, Mr. Kweon and former first lady Kim Keon-hee, who is serving a seven-year sentence. They all were taken down by teams of special prosecutors appointed by Mr. Lee who were tasked with probing the actions of the former president, his wife and their associates.

Prosecutors said the federation’s bribes aimed to win political favors, including a seat for Dr. Han at Mr. Yoon’s 2022 presidential inauguration, Seoul’s assistance with a business project in Cambodia and the acquisition of a South Korean cable news channel.

None of those favors actually transpired.

Prosecutors also initially claimed that the Family Federation sought to enlist 100,000 followers for Mr. Yoon’s party, but dropped those allegations when they discovered the claimed number exceeded the church’s membership.

Prosecutors are highly empowered in Korea. In October, a local government official committed suicide after interrogations related to the probes of Ms. Kim.

Dr. Han has undergone extensive interrogations since she was taken into detention — interspersed with hospital stays — in September. Nearly blind, she has a heart condition and is suffering trauma from falls.

Known to her followers as “Mother Moon,” she assumed leadership of the federation after the 2012 death of her husband, the charismatic North Korean refugee who founded the Unification Church in 1954. The South Korean church grew into a worldwide organization that maintains interests in multiple businesses, including The Washington Times.

Despite her imprisonment, Dr. Han may — health permitting — continue her leadership of the federation from prison. A number of jailed chairmen of Korean conglomerates have continued to operate their businesses from their cells.

Her succession is also assured. At a ceremony held at its spiritual retreat in the hills of Gapyong, northeast of Seoul, in April 2024, Ms. Han designated two grandsons as her successors.

“They are participating with senior administrators in ongoing ecclesiastical responsibilities,” the federation said. “They have been given important responsibilities as they prepare for the future.”

What is not clear is whether South Korean legal authorities will continue moving against the federation.

State vs. church

The church, which seeks the unification of Christian and other religions worldwide, has often drawn unfavorable attention in the U.S. for some of its practices, including mass weddings, but has enjoyed support from conservative political figures in the West.

President Trump and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, among others, have spoken at federation-backed conferences.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s support for the federation was cited by the assassin, aggrieved by his mother’s donations to the church, who killed the conservative leader in 2022.

The revelations linking Japanese lawmakers to the church revitalized a long legal campaign waged against the federation by a lawyers’ group representing people who said their families had been coerced into donating to the church.

The church responded that many donations — including half of those made by the mother of Mr. Abe’s murderer — had been returned. It also said that practices such as “spiritual sales” of pricey religious trinkets had been discontinued years prior.

Nothing availed. Despite not having broken any Japanese laws, the church was dissolved after its final appeal was overturned in June.

The question now is whether the federation will face a similar onslaught in Korea.

Articles 19 and 20 of South Korea’s constitution entrench freedom of conscience and religion, respectively.

However, South Korea inherited its legal system from Japan during its 1910-45 colonial rule over the peninsula, and Tokyo has set precedents for church dissolutions.

In South Korea, a number of Protestant churches have taken positions against Mr. Lee. He also appears to be suspicious of the federation.

In January, while meeting the heads of mainstream religions, Mr. Lee stated his support for the dissolution of the Family Federation and another Christian-based, minority religion, Shincheonji.

In June, the founder of Shincheonji, Korean War veteran Lee Man-hee, 95, was arrested on charges he coerced followers into political activities.

Late last year, in a case that attracted widespread concern in the U.S., Rev. Son Hyung-bo, pastor of Busan Segeyro Church, was imprisoned for speaking against Mr. Lee in violation of election laws. He has since been released.

On Monday, a seven-month-long probe into the Family Federation and Shincheonji wrapped up, with 32 people indicted.

In the current legal climate, an ongoing debate in Korea is over where, precisely, the firewall between church and state should lie.

Meanwhile, Korea’s right is disempowered: It has lost the National Assembly, the presidential Blue House and local elections — giving the leftist government of Mr. Lee considerable freedom of action.

In January, an independent lawmaker in Seoul filed a partial amendment to the Civic Act that would expand governmental power over religious organizations.

Its aim is apparent in the nickname it has gained in Korean media: “The Church Dissolution Act.” The act is pending.